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<rfc category="exp" docName="draft-ietf-6man-mtu-option-13" ipr="trust200902"
     obsoletes="" sortRefs="true" submissionType="IETF" symRefs="true"
     tocDepth="4" tocInclude="true" updates="" version="3" xml:lang="en">
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  <front>
    <title abbrev="Path MTU Option">IPv6 Minimum Path MTU Hop-by-Hop
    Option</title>

    <seriesInfo name="Internet-Draft" value="draft-ietf-6man-mtu-option-13" />

    <author fullname="Robert M. Hinden" initials="R" surname="Hinden">
      <organization>Check Point Software</organization>

      <address>
        <postal>
          <street>959 Skyway Road</street>

          <!-- Reorder these if your country does things differently -->

          <city>San Carlos</city>

          <region>CA</region>

          <code>94070</code>

          <country>USA</country>
        </postal>

        <phone />

        <email>bob.hinden@gmail.com</email>

        <!-- uri and facsimile elements may also be added -->
      </address>
    </author>

    <author fullname="Godred Fairhurst" initials="G" surname="Fairhurst">
      <organization>University of Aberdeen</organization>

      <address>
        <postal>
          <street>School of Engineering</street>

          <street>Fraser Noble Building</street>

          <city>Aberdeen</city>

          <region />

          <code>AB24 3UE</code>

          <country>UK</country>
        </postal>

        <email>gorry@erg.abdn.ac.uk</email>
      </address>
    </author>

    <date day="" month="" year="" />

    <abstract>

     <t>This document specifies a new IPv6 Hop-by-Hop option that is used
      to record the minimum Path MTU along the forward path between a
      source host to a destination host. The recorded value can then be
      communicated back to the source using the return Path MTU field in
      the option. </t>

      
    </abstract>
  </front>

  <middle>
    <section anchor="Intro" numbered="true" title="Introduction" toc="default">

      <t>
      This draft proposes a new IPv6 Hop-by-Hop Option to record the
      minimum Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) along the forward path
      between a source and a destination host. The source host creates a
      packet with this option and initializes the Min-PMTU field with the
      value of the MTU for the outbound link that will be used to forward
      the packet towards the destination host.
      </t>

      <t>At each subsequent hop where the option is processed, the router
      compares the value of the Min-PMTU Field in the option and the MTU of
      its outgoing link. If the MTU of the link is less than the Min-PMTU, it
      rewrites the value in the option data with the smaller value. When the
      packet arrives at the destination host, the host can send the value of
      the minimum reported MTU for the path back to the source host using the
      Rtn-PMTU field in the option. The source host can then use this value as
      input to the method that sets the Path MTU (PMTU) used by upper layer
      protocols.</t>

      <t>The Path MTU Option is designed to work with packet sizes that can be
      specified in the IPv6 header.   The maximum packet size that can be
      specified in an IPv6 header is 65,535 octets (2^^16).</t>

      <t>This method has the potential to complete Path MTU discovery in
      a single round trip time, even over paths that have successive
      links each with a lower MTU. </t>

      <section anchor="Intro1" numbered="true" title="Example Operation"
               toc="default">
        <t>The figure below illustrates the operation of the method. In this
        case, the path between the source host and the destination host comprises
        three links, the source has a link MTU of size MTU-S, the link between
        routers R1 and R2 has an MTU of size 9000 bytes, and the final link to
        the destination has an MTU of size MTU-D.</t>

        <figure>
          <artwork align="center" alt="" name="" type=""><![CDATA[

   +--------+         +----+        +----+         +-------+
   |        |         |    |        |    |         |       |
   | Sender +---------+ R1 +--------+ R2 +-------- + Dest. |
   |        |         |    |        |    |         |       |
   +--------+  MTU-S  +----+  9000B +----+  MTU-D  +-------+

      ]]></artwork>
        </figure>

        <t>Three scenarios are described:</t>

        <ul spacing="normal">
          <li>
            <t>Scenario 1, considers all links to have an 9000 byte MTU and
            the method is supported by both routers. The initial Min-PMTU is
            not modified along the path, and therefore the PMTU is 9000
            bytes.</t>
          </li>

          <li>
            <t>Scenario 2, considers the link to the destination host (MTU-D)
            to have an MTU of 1500 bytes. This is the smallest MTU, router R2
            updates the Min-PMTU to 1500 bytes and the method correctly
            updates the PMTU to 1500 bytes. Had there been another smaller MTU
            at a link further along the path that also supports the method,
            the lower MTU would also have been detected.</t>
          </li>

          <li>
            <t>Scenario 3, considers the case where the router preceding the
            smallest link (R2) does not support the method, and the link to
            the destination host (MTU-D) has an MTU of 1500 bytes. Therefore,
            router R2 does not update the Min-PMTU to 1500 bytes. The method
            then fails to detect the actual PMTU.</t>
          </li>
        </ul>

        <t>In Scenarios 2 and 3, a lower PMTU would also fail to be detected
        in the case where PMTUD had been used and an ICMPv6 Packet Too Big
        (PTB) message had not been delivered to the sender <xref
        format="default" target="RFC8201" />.</t>

        <t>These scenarios are summarized in the table below. "H" in R1 and/or
        R2 columns means the router understands the Minimum Path MTU
        Hop-by-Hop option.</t>

        <figure>
          <artwork align="center" alt="" name="" type=""><![CDATA[

   +-+-----+-----+----+----+----------+-----------------------+
   | |MTU-S|MTU-D| R1 | R2 | Rec PMTU | Note                  |
   +-+-----+-----+----+----+----------+-----------------------+
   |1|9000B|9000B| H  | H  |  9000 B  | Endpoints attempt to  |
   |       |     |    |    |          | use a 9000 B PMTU.    |
   +-+-----+-----+----+----+----------+-----------------------+
   |2|9000B|1500B| H  | H  |  1500 B  | Endpoints attempt to  |
   | |     |     |    |    |          | use a 1500 B PMTU.    |
   +-+-----+-----+----+----+----------+-----------------------+
   |3|9000B|1500B| H  | -  |  9000 B  | Endpoints attempt to  |
   | |     |     |    |    |          | use a 9000 B PMTU,    |
   | |     |     |    |    |          | but need to implement |
   | |     |     |    |    |          | a method to fall back |
   | |     |     |    |    |          | to discover and use a |
   | |     |     |    |    |          | 1500 B PMTU.          |
   +-+-----+-----+----+----+----------+-----------------------+

      ]]></artwork>
        </figure>
      </section>

      <section anchor="Intro2" numbered="true"
               title="Use of the IPv6 Hop-by-Hop Options Header" toc="default">

         <t>IPv6 as specified in <xref format="default" target="RFC8200"
	 /> allows nodes to optionally process the Hop-by-Hop
	 header. Specifically, from Section 4:  </t>

        <ul spacing="normal">
          <li>
            <t>The Hop-by-Hop Options header is not inserted or deleted, but
            may be examined or processed by any node along a packet's delivery
            path, until the packet reaches the node (or each of the set of
            nodes, in the case of multicast) identified in the Destination
            Address field of the IPv6 header. The Hop-by-Hop Options header,
            when present, must immediately follow the IPv6 header. Its
            presence is indicated by the value zero in the Next Header field
            of the IPv6 header.</t>
          </li>

          <li>
            <t>NOTE: While <xref format="default" target="RFC2460" /> required
            that all nodes must examine and process the Hop-by-Hop Options
            header, it is now expected that nodes along a packet's delivery
            path only examine and process the Hop-by-Hop Options header if
            explicitly configured to do so.</t>
          </li>
        </ul>

        <t>The Hop-by-Hop Option defined in this document is designed to take
        advantage of this property of how Hop-by-Hop options are processed.
        Nodes that do not support this Option SHOULD ignore them. This can
        mean that the Min-PMTU value does not account for all links along a
        path.</t>

	<!--
        <t>The Hop-by-Hop option defined in this document is designed to work
        with PMTUs up to 65,574 bytes (the maximum size represented by the
        encoding format).</t>
        -->
	
      </section>
    </section>

    <!-- End of Into Section-->

    <section anchor="motivation" numbered="true"
             title="Motivation and Problem Solved" toc="default">

      <t>The current state of Path MTU Discovery on the Internet is
      problematic. The mechanisms defined in <xref format="default"
      target="RFC8201" /> are known to not work well in all
      environments. It fails to work in various cases, including when
      nodes in the middle of the network do not send ICMP PTB messages,
      or rate-limited ICMP messages, or do not have a return path to the
      source host. </t>

      <t>This results in many transport connections being configured to use
      smaller packets (e.g., 1280 bytes) by default and makes it difficult to
      take advantage of paths with a larger PMTU where they do exist.
      Applications
      that send
      <!--
      that could benefit from sending 
      -->
      large packets are forced
      to use IPv6 Fragmentation <xref format="default" target="RFC8200" />,
      which can reduce the reliability of Internet communication <xref
      format="default" target="RFC8900" />.</t>

      <t>Encapsulations and network-layer tunnels further reduce the
      payload size available for a transport to use. Also, some use-cases
      increase packet overhead, for example, Network Virtualization Using
      Generic Routing Encapsulation (NVGRE) <xref format="default"
      target="RFC7637" /> encapsulates L2 packets in an outer IP header and
      does not allow IP Fragmentation.</t>

<!--
      <t>Sending larger packets can improve host performance, e.g.,
      avoiding limits to packet processing by the packet rate.   
      The potential of multi-gigabit
      Ethernet will only be realized if the packet size is increased above 1280
      bytes, to avoid exceeding a packet per second sending rate that
      most hosts can process.
      For example, the packet per second rate required to reach
      wire speed on a 10G Ethernet link with 1280 byte packets is about 977K
      packets per second (pps), vs. 139K pps for 9000 byte packets. A
      significant difference.</t>
-->
      <t>Sending larger packets can improve host performance, e.g., avoiding
      limits to packet processing by the packet rate. For example, the
      packet per second rate required to reach wire speed on a 10G link
      with 1280 byte packets is about 977K packets per second (pps),
      vs. 139K pps for 9000 byte packets.</t>

      <t>The purpose of this draft is to improve the situation by
      defining a mechanism that does not rely on reception of ICMPv6
      Packet Too Big messages from nodes in the middle of the
      network. Instead, this provides information to the destination host
      about the minimum Path MTU, and sends this information back to the
      source host. This is expected to work better than the current
      RFC8201-based mechanisms.</t>

      <t>A similar mechanism was proposed in 1998 for IPv4 in <xref
      format="default" target="RFC1063" /> by Jeff Mogul, C. Kent, Craig
      Partridge, and Keith McCloghire. It was later obsoleted in 1990 by <xref
      format="default" target="RFC1191" />, the current deployed approach to
      Path MTU Discovery. In contrast, the method described in this
      document uses the HBH option of IPv6. It does not replace PMTUD <xref
      format="default" target="RFC8201" />, PLPPMTUD <xref
      format="default" target="RFC4821" /> or Datagram PLPMTUD <xref
       format="default" target="RFC8899" />,
       but rather is designed to compliment these methods.
       </t>
      
    </section>

    <section numbered="true" title="Requirements Language" toc="default">
      <t>The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
      "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
      "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14
      <xref format="default" target="RFC2119" /> <xref format="default"
      target="RFC8174" /> when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as
      shown here.</t>
    </section>   <!-- Requirements Language -->

    <section numbered="true" title="Applicability Statements" toc="default">
      <t>The Path MTU option is designed for environments where there is
      control over the hosts and nodes that connect them, and where there
      is more than one MTU size in use. For example, in Data Centers and
      on paths between Data Centers, to allow hosts 
      to better take advantage of a path that is able to support a large
      PMTU.</t>

      <t>The design of the option is sufficiently simple that it can be
      executed on a router's fast path. A successful experiment depends
      on both implementation by host and router vendors and deployment by
      operators. The contained use-case of connections within and between
      Data Centers could be a driver for deployment.</t>


      <t>The method could also be useful in other environments, including the
      general Internet, and offers advantage when this Hop-by-Hop Option is
      supported on all paths. The method is more robust when used to probe
      the path using packets that do not carry application data and when also
      paired with a method such as Packetization Layer PMTUD <xref
      format="default" target="RFC4821" /> or Datagram PLPMTUD <xref
      format="default" target="RFC8899" />.</t>
    </section>

    <!-- Applicability Statements -->

    <section anchor="HBH" numbered="true"
             title="IPv6 Minimum Path MTU Hop-by-Hop Option" toc="default">
      <t>The Minimum Path MTU Hop-by-Hop Option has the following format:</t>

      <figure>
        <artwork align="center" alt="" name="" type=""><![CDATA[

 Option    Option    Option
  Type    Data Len   Data
+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+-------+-+
|BBCTTTTT|00000100|     Min-PMTU    |     Rtn-PMTU    |R|
+--------+--------+--------+--------+---------+-------+-+

  Option Type (see Section 4.2 of [RFC8200]):

  BB     00   Skip over this option and continue processing.

  C       1   Option data can change en route to the packet's final
              destination.

  TTTTT 10000 Option Type assigned from IANA [IANA-HBH].

  Length:  4  The size of the each value field in Option Data 
  field supports PMTU values from 0 to 65,534 octets, the
  maximum size represented by the Path MTU option.


  Min-PMTU: n 16-bits.  The minimum MTU recorded along the path
              in octets, reflecting the smallest link MTU that
              the packet experienced along the path.
              A value less than the IPv6 minimum link
              MTU [RFC8200] MUST be ignored.

  Rtn-PMTU: n 15-bits.  The returned Path MTU field, carrying the 15
              most significant bits of the latest received Min-PMTU
              field for the forward path.  The value zero means that
              no Reported MTU is being returned.

  R        n  1-bit.  R-Flag.   Set by the source to signal that
              the destination host should include the received
              Rtn-PMTU field updated by the reported Min-PMTU value
	      when the destination host is to send a PMTU Option back
	      to the source host.

]]></artwork>
      </figure>

      <t>NOTE: The encoding of the final two octets (Rtn-PMTU and R-Flag)
      could be implemented by a mask of the latest received Min-PMTU value
      with 0xFFFE, discarding the right-most bit and then performing a logical
      'OR' with the R-Flag value of the sender.  This encoding fits 
      in the minimum-sized HBH Option header. 
</t>
    </section>

    <!-- End of Option Defination section -->

    <section anchor="Behavior" numbered="true"
             title="Router, Host, and Transport Layer Behaviors" toc="default">

      <section anchor="router" numbered="true" title="Router Behavior"
               toc="default">
        <t>Routers that are not configured to support Hop-by-Hop Options
        SHOULD ignore this option and SHOULD forward the packet <xref
	format="default" target="RFC8200" />.</t> 

        <t>Routers that support Hop-by-Hop Options, but that are not
        configured to support this option SHOULD ignore the option and SHOULD
        forward the packet.</t>

        <t>Routers that support this option SHOULD compare the value of the
        Min-PMTU field with the MTU configured for the outgoing link. If the
        MTU of the outgoing link is less than the Min-PMTU, the router
        rewrites the Min-PMTU in the Option to use the smaller value. (The
        router processing is performed without checking the valid range of the
        Min-PMTU or the Rtn-PMTU fields.)</t>

        <t>A router MUST ignore and MUST NOT change the Rtn-PMTU field or the
        R-Flag in the option. </t>

        <t>Discussion:</t>

        <ul spacing="normal">
          <li>
            <t>The design of this option makes it feasible to be implemented
            within the fast path of a router, because the processing
            requirements are minimal.</t>
          </li>
        </ul>

<!--

     <section anchor="Optimication" numbered="true"
          title="Router Optimization" toc="default">

        <t>An optimization that can be done in routers, is that a router
	that has all interfaces configured with the same MTU
	value, can forward without updating the Minimum PMTU Hop-by-Hop
	option. If the incoming and
	outgoing links have the same MTU, then the result will always be
	the same and there is no need to perform the processing described
	earlier in this section.
	</t>

      </section>

-->

      </section>


      
      <!--End of Router Behavior subsection-->

     <section anchor="host-os" numbered="true"
          title="Host Operating System Behavior" toc="default">

<!--
              <t>The PMTU entry associated with the destination in the IP
          layer cache can be updated using PMTUD after detecting a change
          using the IPv6 Minimum Path MTU Hop-by-Hop Option.  This cached
          value can be used by other flows that share the IP cache.</t>
-->

           <t>The PMTU entry associated with the destination in the
           host's destination cache <xref format="default"
           target="RFC4861" /> SHOULD be updated after detecting a change
           using the IPv6 Minimum Path MTU Hop-by-Hop Option. This cached
           value can be used by other flows that share the host's
	   destination cache. </t>

<!--
** Watch out for confusing use of PMTUD? Is it referring to 8201 or this mechanism?
-->


<!--
          <t>The value in the host IP layer cache could, for instance, be
          used by PLPMTUD to select an initial PMTU for each flow before
          a flow determines a PMTU for the specific path it is using
          (e.g., using the IPv6 Minimum Path MTU Hop-by-Hop Option and
          DPLPMTUD).  The cached PMTU is only increased by PLPMTUD when
          the PL determines the path actually supports a larger PMTU
          <xref format="default" target="RFC4821" /> <xref
          format="default" target="RFC8899" />.
          </t>
-->

          <t>The value in the host destination cache SHOULD be used by
          PLPMTUD to select an initial PMTU for a flow. The cached PMTU
          is only increased by PLPMTUD when the PL determines the path
          actually supports a larger PMTU <xref format="default"
          target="RFC4821" /> <xref format="default" target="RFC8899" />.
          </t>

          <t>When requested to send an IPv6 packet with the Minimum Path MTU
          option, the source host includes the option in an outgoing packet.
          The source host MUST fill the Min-PMTU field with the MTU configured
          for the link over which it will send the packet on the next hop
          towards the destination host.</t>

          <t>When a host includes the option in a packet it sends, the host
          SHOULD set the Rtn-PMTU field to the previously cached value of the
          received Minimum Path MTU for the flow in the Rtn-PMTU field (see
          <xref target="transportrec" />). If this value is not set (for
          example, because there is no cached reported Min-PMTU value), the
          Rtn-PMTU field value MUST be set to zero.</t>

          <t>The source host MAY request the destination host to return the
          reported Min-PMTU value by setting the R-Flag in the option of an
          outgoing packet. The R-Flag SHOULD NOT be set when the Minimum Path
          MTU Option was sent solely to provide requested feedback on the
          return Path MTU to avoid each response generating another
	  response.</t> 

          <t>The destination host controls when to send a packet with
	  this option in response to a R-flag, as well as which packets
	  to include it in. The destination host MAY limit the rate at
	  which it sends these packets.</t> 

       <t>A destination host only sets the R Flag if it wishes
           the source host to also return the discovered PMTU value
           for the path from the destination to the source.</t>

<!--
          <t>The normal sequence of operation of the R-Flag using the terminology from
	  the diagram in Figure 1 is:</t>
	  
          <ol type="1">
           <li><t>Sender sends probe to Dest. Sender MUST set the R-Flag</t></li>

           <li><t>Dest responds by sending a probe including the
 	   received Min-PMTU as the Rtn-PMTU.  Dest sets R-Flag only if response is
	   desired</t></li>

           <li><t>Sender sends response probe back to Dest, MUST NOT set
	   R-Flag.</t></li> 
          </ol>
-->
	  
       <t>The normal sequence of operation of the R-Flag using the
       terminology from the diagram in Figure 1 is: </t>

	<ol type="1">
        <li><t>The source sends a probe to the destination. The sender sets the R-Flag.</t></li>

	<li><t>The destination responds by sending a probe including the
	received Min-PMTU as the Rtn-PMTU.
        A destination that does not wish to probe the return path sets
	the R-Flag to 0.</t></li>

	<li><t>This sends a response probe back to source.</t></li>
        </ol>

        </section>

        <!--  End of Host OS section-->

        <section anchor="Transport" numbered="true" title="Transport
	Layer Behavior"  toc="default">
          <t>This Hop-by-Hop option is intended to be used with a path MTU
          discovery method.</t>

          <t>Section 4.1 of <xref format="default" target="RFC9000" />
          describes different types of PMTU Probe, depending on whether the
          probe packets carry application data. When the path is expected to
          support use of the option, the PMTU Probe can be sent on packets
          that include application data, but needs to be robust to potential
          loss of the packet with the possibility that retransmission might be
          needed. Using a PMTU Probe on packets that do not carry application
          data will avoid the need for loss recovery if a router on the path
          later drops packets that set this option.
          This avoids the transport needing to retransmit a lost packet
	  that includes this option. </t>

          <!-- subsections... -->

          <section anchor="transportsend" numbered="true"
                   title="Including the Option in an Outgoing Packet"
                   toc="default">
            <t>The upper layer protocol can request the Minimum Path MTU
            option to be included in an outgoing IPv6 packet. A transport
            protocol (or upper layer protocol) can include this option only on
            specific packets used to test the path. This option does not need
            to be included in all packets belonging to a flow.</t>

            <t>NOTE: Including this option in a large packet (e.g., one larger
            than the present PMTU) is not likely to be useful, since the large
            packet would itself be dropped by any link along the path with a
            smaller MTU, preventing the Min-PMTU information from reaching the
            destination host.</t>

            <t>Discussion:</t>

            <ul spacing="normal">
              <li>
                <t>In the case of TCP, the option could be included in a
                packet that carries a TCP segment sent after the connection is
                established. A segment without data could be used, to avoid
                the need to retransmit this data if the probe packet is lost.
                The discovered value can be used to inform PLPMTUD
		<xref format="default" target="RFC4821" />.</t>

                <t>NOTE: A TCP SYN can also negotiate the Maximum Segment Size
                (MSS), which acts as an upper limit to the packet size that
                can be sent by a TCP sender. If this option were to be
                included in a TCP SYN, it could increase the probability that
                the SYN segment is lost when routers on the path drop packets
                with this option (see <xref target="HBHblackhole" />), which
                could have an unwanted impact on the result of racing options
                <xref format="default" target="I-D.ietf-taps-arch" />
                or feature negotiation.</t>
              </li>

              <li>
                <t>The use with datagram transport protocols (e.g., UDP) is
                harder to characterize because applications using datagram
                transports range from very short-lived (low data-volume
                applications) exchanges, to longer (bulk) exchanges of packets
                between the source and destination hosts <xref
                format="default" target="RFC8085" />.</t>
              </li>

              <li>
                <t>Simple-exchange protocols (i.e., low data-volume
                applications <xref format="default" target="RFC8085" /> that
                only send one or a few packets per transaction), might assume
                that the PMTU is symmetrical. That is, the PMTU is the same in
                both directions, or at least not smaller for the return path.
                This optimization does not hold when the paths are not
                symmetric.</t>
              </li>

	      <li>
		<t>The Minimum PMTU Hop-by-Hop option can be used with
		ICMPv6 <xref format="default" target="RFC4443" />. This
		requires a response from the remote node and therefore is
		restricted to use with ICMPv6 echo messages.  The Minimum
		PMTU Hop-by-Hop option could provide additional
		information about the PMTU that might be supported by a
		path.  This could be use as a diagnostic tool to measure
		the PMTU of a path.  As with other uses, the actual
		supported PMTU is only confirmed after receiving a
		response to a subsequent probe of the PMTU size.</t>
	      </li>
               

              <li>
                <t>A datagram transport can utilise DPLPMTUD <xref
                format="default" target="RFC8899" />. For example, QUIC (see
                section 14.3 of <xref format="default" target="RFC9000" />),
                can use DPLPMTUD to determine whether the path to a
                destination will support a desired maximum datagram size. When
                using the IPv6 MinPMTU HBH option, the option could be added
                to an additional QUIC PMTU Probe that is of minimal size (or
                one no larger than the currently supported PMTU size). Once
                the return Path MTU value in the Min PMTU HBH option has been
                learned, DPLPMTUD can be triggered to test for a larger PLPMTU
                using an appropriately sized PLPMTU Probe Packet (see section
                5.3.1 of <xref format="default" target="RFC8899" />).</t>
              </li>

              <li>
                <t>The use of this option with DNS and DNSSEC over UDP is
		expected to
                work for paths where the PMTU is symmetric. The DNS server
                will learn the PMTU from the DNS query messages. If the
                Rtn-PMTU value is smaller, then a large DNSSEC response might
                be dropped and the known problems with PMTUD will then occur.
                DNS and DNSSEC over transport protocols that can carry the
                PMTU ought to work.</t>
              </li>

              <li>
              <t>This method also can be used with Anycast to discover
	      the PMTU of the path, but the use needs to be aware that the
	      Anycast binding might change. </t>
              </li>

            </ul>
          </section>

          <!-- End of IPv6 outgoing transport processing -->

          <section anchor="transportvalid" numbered="true"
                   title="Validation of the Packet that includes the Option"
                   toc="default">
            <t>An upper layer protocol (e.g., transport endpoint) using this
            option needs to provide protection from data injection attacks by
            off-path devices <xref format="default" target="RFC8085" />. This
            requires a method to assure that the information in the Option
            Data is provided by a node on the path. This validates that the
            packet forms a part of an existing flow, using context available
            at the upper layer. For example, a TCP connection or UDP
            application that maintains the related state and uses a
	    randomized ephemeral port would provide this basic validation	
	    to protect from off-path data injection, see Section 5.1 of
	     <xref format="default" target="RFC8085" />.
            IPsec <xref format="default"
            target="RFC4301" /> and TLS <xref format="default"
            target="RFC8446" /> provide greater assurance.</t>

            <t>The upper layer discards any received packet when the packet
            validation fails. When packet validation fails, the upper layer
            MUST also discard the associated Option Data from the minimum Path
            MTU option without further processing.</t>
          </section>

          <!-- End of Validation -->

          <section anchor="transportrec" numbered="true"
                   title="Receiving the Option" toc="default">
            <t>For a connection-oriented upper layer protocol, caching of the
            received Min-PMTU could be implemented by saving the value in the
            connection context at the transport layer. A connection-less upper
            layer (e.g., one using UDP), requires the upper layer protocol to
            cache the value for each flow it uses.</t>

            <t>A destination host that receives a Minimum Path MTU Option with
            the R-Flag SHOULD include the Minimum Path MTU option in the next
            outgoing IPv6 packet for the corresponding flow.</t>

            <t>A simple mechanism could only include this option (with the
            Rtn-PMTU field set) the first time this option is received or when
            it notifies a change in the Minimum Path MTU. This limits the
            number of packets including the option packets that are sent.
            However, this does not provide robustness to packet loss or
            recovery after a sender loses state.</t>

            <t>Discussion:</t>

            <ul spacing="normal">
              <li>
                <t>Some upper layer protocols send packets less frequently
                than the rate at which the host receives packets. This
                provides less frequent feedback of the received Rtn-PMTU
                value. However, a host always sends the most recent Rtn-PMTU
                value.</t>
              </li>
            </ul>
          </section>

          <!-- End of  IPv6 incoming transport processing -->

          <section anchor="Rtn-MTU" numbered="true"
                   title="Using the Rtn-PMTU Field" toc="default">
            <t>The Rtn-PMTU field provides an indication of the PMTU from
            on-path routers. It does not necessarily reflect the actual PMTU
            between the source and destination hosts. Care therefore needs to be
            exercised in using the Rtn-PMTU value. Specifically:</t>

            <ul spacing="normal">
              <li>The actual PMTU can be lower than the Rtn-PMTU value because
              Min-PMTU field was not updated by a router on the path that did
              not process the option.</li>

              <li>The actual PMTU may be lower than the Rtn-PMTU value because
              the there is a layer 2 device with a lower MTU.</li>

              <li>The actual PMTU may be larger than the Rtn-PMTU value
              because of a corrupted, delayed or mis-ordered response. A
              source host SHOULD ignore a Rtn-PMTU value larger than the MTU
              configured for the outgoing link.</li>

              <li>The path might have changed between the time when the probe was
	      sent and when the Rtn-PMTU value received.</li>

            </ul>

	    <!--
            <t>Using the method has the potential to complete discovery of the
            correct value in a single round trip time, even over paths that
            have successive links each configured with a lower MTU.</t>
            -->

            <t>IPv6 requires that every link in the Internet have an MTU of
            1280 octets or greater. A node MUST ignore a Rtn-PMTU value less
            than 1280 octets <xref format="default" target="RFC8200" />.</t>

            <t>To avoid unintentional dropping of packets that exceed the
            actual PMTU (e.g., Scenario 3 in <xref target="Intro1" />), the
            source host can delay increasing the PMTU until a probe packet
            with the size of the Rtn-PMTU value has been successfully
            acknowledged by the upper layer, confirming that the path supports
            the larger PMTU. This probing increases robustness, but adds one
            additional path round trip time before the PMTU is updated. This
            use resembles that of PTB messages in section 4.6 of DPLPMTUD
            <xref format="default" target="RFC8899" /> (with the important
            difference that a PTB message can only seek to lower the PMTU,
            whereas this option could trigger a probe packet to seek to
            increase the PMTU.)</t>

            <t>Section 5.2 of <xref format="default" target="RFC8201" />
            provides guidance on the caching of PMTU information and also the
            relation to IPv6 flow labels. Implementations should consider the
            impact of Equal Cost Multipath (ECMP) <xref format="default"
            target="RFC6438" />. Specifically, whether a PMTU ought to be
            maintained for each transport endpoint, or for each network
            address.</t>
          </section>

          <!-- End of  Rtn-MTU -->

          <section numbered="true" title="Detecting Path Changes"
                   toc="default">
            <t>Path characteristics can change and the actual PMTU could
            increase or decrease over time. For instance, following a path
            change when packets are forwarded over a link with a
            different MTU than that previously used. To bound the delay in
            discovering an increase in the actual PMTU, a host with a link MTU
            larger than the current PMTU SHOULD periodically send the Minimum
            Path MTU Option with the R-bit set. DPLPMTUD provides
            recommendations concerning how this could be implemented (see
            Section 5.3 of <xref format="default" target="RFC8899" />). Since
            the option consumes less capacity than a full-sized probe packet,
            there can be advantage in using this to detect a change in the
            path characteristics.</t>
          </section>

          <!-- End of Detecting Path Changes -->

          <section anchor="HBHblackhole" numbered="true"
                   title="Detection of Dropping Packets that include the Option"
                   toc="default">
            <t>There is evidence that some middleboxes drop packets that
            include Hop-by-Hop options. For example, a firewall might drop a
            packet that carries an unknown extension header or option. This
            practice is expected to decrease as an option becomes more widely
            used. It could result in generation of an ICMPv6 message
            indicating the problem. This could be used to (temporarily)
            suspend use of this option.</t>

            <t>A middlebox that silently discards a packet with this option
            results in dropping of any packet using the option. This dropping
            can be avoided by appropriate configuration in a controlled
            environment, such as within a data centre, but needs to be
            considered for Internet usage. <xref target="host-os" /> recommends
            that this option is not used on packets where loss might adversely
            impact performance.</t>
          </section>

          <!-- End of HBH Drop -->
        </section>

        <!-- End of Transport Main subSection -->
      </section>

    <!--  End of Router,Host, Transport Section-->

    <section anchor="IANA" numbered="true" title="IANA Considerations"
             toc="default">
      <t>IANA has assigned and registered an IPv6 Hop-by-Hop Option type with
      Temporary status from the "Destination Options and Hop-by-Hop Options"
      registry <xref format="default" target="IANA-HBH" />. This assignment is
      shown in <xref format="default" target="HBH" />.</t>

      <t>IANA is requested to update this registry to point to this document
      and remove the Temporary status.</t>
    </section>

    <!-- End of  IANA Main Section-->

    <section anchor="Security" numbered="true" title="Security Considerations"
             toc="default">
      <t>This section discusses the security considerations.
      It first reviews router option processing.  It then reviews
      host processing when receiving this option at the network layer. It then
      considers two ways in which the Option Data can be processed, followed
      by two approaches for using the Option Data. Finally, it discusses
      middlebox implications related to use in the general Internet.</t>



      <section anchor="Security-router" numbered="true"
               title="Router Option Processing" toc="default">

      <t>This option shares the characteristics of all other IPv6 Hop by
      Hop Options, in that if not supported at line rate it could be used
      to degrade the performance of a router. This option, while simple, is no
      different to other uses of IPv6 Hop-by-Hop options.</t>

      <t>It is common for routers to ignore the Hop-by-Hop Option header
      or drop packets containing a Hop-by-Hop Option header.  Routers
      implementing IPv6 according to <xref format="default"
      target="RFC8200 " /> only examine and process the Hop-by-Hop
      Options header if explicitly configured to do so.
      </t>

      </section>
      <section anchor="Security-net" numbered="true"
               title="Network Layer Host Processing" toc="default">
        <t>A malicious attacker can forge a packet directed at a host that
        carries the minimum Path MTU option. By design, the fields of this IP
        option can be modified by the network.</t>

	<t>For comparison, the ICMPv6 Packet Too Big message used in
	<xref format="default" target="RFC8201" /> Path MTU Discovery,
	the source host has an inherent trust relationship with the
	destination host including this option.  This trust relationship
	can be used to help verify the option.  ICMPv6 Packet Too Big
	messages are sent from any router on the path to the destination
	host, the source host has no prior knowledge of these routers
	(except for the first hop router).</t>  

        <t>Reception of this packet will require processing as the
        network stack parses the packet before the packet is delivered to the
        upper layer protocol. This network layer option processing is normally
        completed before any upper layer protocol delivery checks are
        performed.</t>

        <t>The network layer does not normally have sufficient information to
        validate that the packet carrying an option originated from the
        destination (or an on-path node). It also does not typically have
        sufficient context to demultiplex the packet to identify the related
        transport flow. This can mean that any changes resulting from
        reception of the option applies to all flows between a pair of
        endpoints.</t>

        <t>These considerations are no different to other uses of Hop-by-Hop
        options, and this is the use case for PMTUD. The following section
        describes a mitigation for this attack.</t>
      </section>

      <section anchor="Security-upp" numbered="true"
               title="Validating use of the Option Data" toc="default">
        <t>Transport protocols should be designed to provide protection from
        data injection attacks by off-path devices and mechanisms should be
        described in the Security Considerations for each transport
        specification (see Section 5.1 of the UDP Guidelines <xref
        format="default" target="RFC8085" />). For example, a TCP or UDP
        application that maintains the related state and uses a randomized
        ephemeral port would provide basic protection. TLS <xref
        format="default" target="RFC8446" /> or IPsec <xref format="default"
        target="RFC4301" /> provide cryptographic authentication. An upper
        layer protocol that validates each received packet discards any packet
        when this validation fails. In this case, the host MUST also discard
        the associated Option Data from the minimum Path MTU option without
        further processing (<xref target="Transport" />).</t>

        <t>A network node on the path has visibility of all packets it
        forwards. By observing the network packet payload, the node might be
        able to construct a packet that might be validated by the destination
        host. Such a node would also be able to drop or limit the flow in
        other ways that could be potentially more disruptive. Authenticating
        the packet, for example, using IPsec <xref format="default"
        target="RFC4301" /> or TLS <xref format="default" target="RFC8446" />
        mitigates this attack.
        Note that AH style authentication <xref format="default"
	target="RFC4302" /> while authenticating the payload and outer
	IPv6 header, does not check Hop-by-Hop options that change on route. 

</t>
      </section>

      <section anchor="Security-pmtud" numbered="true"
               title="Direct use of the Rtn-PMTU Value" toc="default">
        <t>The simplest way to utilize the Rtn-PMTU value is to directly use
        this to update the PMTU. This approach results in a set of security
        issues when the option carries malicious data:</t>

        <ul>
          <li>
            <t>A direct update of the PMTU using the Rtn-PMTU value could
            result in an attacker inflating or reducing the size of the host
            PMTU for the destination. Forcing a reduction in the PMTU can
            decrease the efficiency of network use, might increase the number
            of packets/fragments required to send the same volume of payload
            data, and prevents sending an unfragmented datagram larger than
            the PMTU. Increasing the PMTU can result in black-holing (see
            Section 1.1 of <xref format="default" target="RFC8899" />) when
            the source host sends packets larger than the actual PMTU. This
            persists until the PMTU is next updated.</t>
          </li>

          <li>
            <t>The method can be used to solicit a response from the
            destination host. A malicious attacker could forge a packet that
            causes the destination to add the option to a packet sent to the source host.
            A forged value of Rtn-PMTU in the Option Data might also impact
            the remote endpoint, as described in the previous bullet. This
            persists until a valid minimum Path MTU option is received. This
            attack could be mitigated by limiting the sending of the minimum
            Path MTU option in reply to incoming packets that carry the
            option.</t>
          </li>
        </ul>
      </section>

      <!-- End of security PMTUD subsection -->

      <section anchor="Security-dplpmtud" numbered="true"
               title="Using the Rtn-PMTU Value as a Hint for Probing"
               toc="default">
        <t>Another way to utilize the Rtn-PMTU value is to indirectly trigger
        a probe to determine if the path supports a PMTU of size Rtn-PMTU.
        This approach needs context for the flow, and hence assumes an upper
        layer protocol that validates the packet that carries the option (see
        <xref target="Security-upp" />). This is the case when used in
        combination with DPLPMTUD <xref format="default" target="RFC8899" />.
        A set of security considerations result when an option carries
        malicious data:</t>

        <ul>
          <li>If the forged packet carries a validated option with a non-zero
          Rtn-PMTU field, the upper layer protocol could utilize the
          information in the Rtn-PMTU field. A Rtn-PMTU larger than the
          current PMTU can trigger a probe for a new size.</li>

          <li>If the forged packet carries a non-zero Min-PMTU field, the
          upper layer protocol would change the cached information about the
          path from the source. The cached information at the destination host
          will be overwritten when the host receives another packet that
          includes a minimum Path MTU option corresponding to the flow.</li>

          <li>Processing of the option could cause a destination host to add
          the minimum Path MTU option to a packet sent to the source host.
          This option will carry a Rtn-PMTU value that could have been updated
          by the forged packet. The impact of the source host receiving this
          resembles that discussed previously.</li>
        </ul>
      </section>

      <!-- End of security subsection -->

      <section anchor="Security-mbox" numbered="true"
               title="Impact of Middleboxes" toc="default">
        <t>There is evidence that some middleboxes drop packets that include
        Hop-by-Hop options. For example, a firewall might drop a packet that
        carries an unknown extension header or option. This practice is
        expected to decrease as the option becomes more widely used. Methods
        to address this are discussed in <xref target="HBHblackhole" />.</t>

        <t>When a forged packet causes a packet to be sent including the
        minimum Path MTU option, and the return path does not forward packets
        with this option, the packet will be dropped <xref
        target="HBHblackhole" />. This attack is mitigated by validating the
        option data before use and by limiting the rate of responses
        generated. An upper layer could further mitigate the impact by
        responding to a R-Flag by including the option in a packet that does
        not carry application data.</t>
      </section>

      <!-- End of security mbox subsection  -->
    </section>

    <!-- End of Security Consideraions main section-->

    <section anchor="EXP" numbered="true" title="Experiment Goals"
             toc="default">
      <t>This section describes the experimental goals of this
      specification.</t>

      <t>A successful deployment of the method depends upon several components
      being implemented and deployed:</t>

      <ul spacing="normal">
        <li>Support in the sending node (see <xref format="default"
        target="host-os" />). This also requires corresponding support in
        upper layer protocols (see <xref format="default"
        target="Transport" />).</li>

        <li>Router support in nodes (see <xref format="default"
        target="router" />). The IETF continues to provide recommendations on
        the use of IPv6 Hop-by-Hop options, for example <xref format="default"
        section="2.2.2" target="RFC9099" />. This document does not update the
        way router implementations configure support for HBH options.</li>

        <li>Support in the receiving node (see <xref format="default"
        target="transportrec" />).</li>
      </ul>

      <t>Experience from deployment is an expected input to any decision to
      progress this specification from Experimental to IETF Standards Track.
      Appropriate inputs might include:</t>

      <ul spacing="normal">
        <li>Reports of implementation experience;</li>

        <li>Measurements of the number paths where the method can be
        used;</li>

        <li>Measurements showing the benefit realized or the implications of
        using specific methods over specific paths.</li>
      </ul>
    </section>

    <!-- End of Experiment Status section-->

    <section anchor="IMP" numbered="true" title="Implementation Status"
             toc="default">
      <t>At the time this document was published there are two known
      implementations of the Path MTU Hop-by-Hop option. These are:</t>

      <ul spacing="normal">
        <li>Wireshark dissector. This is shipping in production in Wireshark
        version 3.2 <xref format="default" target="WIRESHARK" />.</li>

        <li>A prototype in the open source version of the FD.io Vector Packet
        Processing (VPP) technology <xref format="default" target="VPP" />.
        At the time this document was published, the source code can be found
        <xref format="default" target="VPP_SRC" />.</li>
      </ul>
    </section>

    <!-- End of Implementation Status section-->

    <section anchor="Ack" numbered="true" title="Acknowledgments"
             toc="default">

      <t>Helpful comments were received from Tom Herbert, Tom Jones, Fred
      Templin, Ole Troan, Tianran Zhou, Jen Linkova, Brian Carpenter, Peng
      Shuping, Mark Smith, Fernando Gont, Michael Dougherty, Erik Kline,
      and other members of the 6MAN working group.</t> 
    </section>

    <!-- End of  Ack Main Secrion-->

    <section anchor="changes" numbered="true"
             title="Change log [RFC Editor: Please remove]" toc="default">

     <t>draft-ietf-6man-mtu-option-13, 2022-February-28</t>

     <ul spacing="compact">

     <li><t>Area Directorate Reviews:</t>
	
       <ul spacing="compact">

        <li>SECDIR Review:  Fixed "nit".</li>

        <li>TSVART Review:  Restructured <xref format="default"
	target="Behavior" /> including making Transport Behavior more
	prominent, added text about ICMPv6 to <xref format="default"
	target="transportsend" />, moved the text about prior work in
	RFC1063 to  <xref format="default" target="motivation" />.
	</li>

        <li>GENART Review:  Added text to <xref format="default"
	target="Intro" /> that this option was designed to work with
	packet sizes that can be specified in the IPv6 Header.</li>

       </ul></li>

<!---
	<li>Added a new subsection to Router Behavior describing an
	optimization that can be done if all of the routers interfaces
	are configured with the same MTU.</li>
-->


       <li>Editorial Changes.</li>

      </ul>

      <t>draft-ietf-6man-mtu-option-12, 2022-January-26</t>

      <ul spacing="compact">

        <li>Clarified a few issues raised by AD review by Erik
	Kline AD review.
        </li> 

      </ul>

      <t>draft-ietf-6man-mtu-option-11, 2021-September-30</t>

      <ul spacing="compact">

        <li>Clarifications and editorial changes to the Security
	Considerations section based on early AD review	by Erik
	Kline.</li> 

      </ul>


      <t>draft-ietf-6man-mtu-option-10, 2021-September-27</t>

      <ul spacing="compact">

        <li>Clarifications and editorial changes based on second chair
	review by Ole Troan.</li>

        <li>Editorial changes.</li>

      </ul>


      <t>draft-ietf-6man-mtu-option-09, 2021-September-23</t>

      <ul spacing="compact">

        <li>Clarifications and editorial changes based on review by
	Michael Dougherty.</li>

      </ul>
      
      <t>draft-ietf-6man-mtu-option-08, 2021-September-7</t>

      <ul spacing="compact">

        <li>Clarifications and editorial changes based on chair review by
	Ole Troan.</li>

	<li>Correction and clarifications based on review by Fernando Gont.</li>

      </ul>
      
      <t>draft-ietf-6man-mtu-option-07, 2021-August-31</t>

      <ul spacing="compact">
        <li>Added Experiment Goals section.</li>

        <li>Added Implementation Status section.</li>

        <li>Updated the IANA Considerations section to point to this document
        and remove Temporary status.</li>

        <li>Clarifications and editorial changes based on review by Mark Smith.</li>

      </ul>

      <t>draft-ietf-6man-mtu-option-06, 2021-August-7</t>

      <ul spacing="compact">
        <li>Transport usage of the mechanism clarified in response to feedback
        and suggestions from Jen Linkova.</li>

        <li>Restructured <xref format="default" target="Behavior" /> to
        improve readability.</li>

        <li>Editorial changes.</li>

      </ul>

      <t>draft-ietf-6man-mtu-option-05, 2021-April-28</t>

      <ul spacing="compact">
        <li>Editorial changes.</li>
      </ul>

      <t>draft-ietf-6man-mtu-option-04, 2020-Oct-23</t>

      <ul spacing="compact">
        <li>Fixes for typos.</li>
      </ul>

      <t>draft-ietf-6man-mtu-option-03, 2020-Sept-14</t>

      <ul spacing="compact">
        <li>Rewrite to make text and terminology more consistent.</li>

        <li>Added the notion of validating the packet before use of the HBH
        option data.</li>

        <li>Method aligned with the way common APIs send/receive HBH option
        data.</li>

        <li>Added reference to DPLPMTUD and clarified upper layer usage.</li>

        <li>Completed security considerations section.</li>
      </ul>

      <t>draft-ietf-6man-mtu-option-02, 2020-March-9</t>

      <ul spacing="compact">
        <li>Editorial changes to make text and terminology more
        consistent.</li>

        <li>Added reference to DPLPMTUD.</li>
      </ul>

      <t>draft-ietf-6man-mtu-option-01, 2019-September-13</t>

      <ul spacing="compact">
        <li>Changes to show IANA assigned code point.</li>

        <li>Editorial changes to make text and terminology more
        consistent.</li>

        <li>Added a reference to RFC8200 in <xref format="default"
        target="motivation" /> and a reference to RFC6438 in <xref
        format="default" target="Transport" />.</li>
      </ul>

      <t>draft-ietf-6man-mtu-option-00, 2019-August-9</t>

      <ul spacing="compact">
        <li>First 6man w.g. draft version.</li>

        <li>Changes to request IANA allocation of code point.</li>

        <li>Editorial changes.</li>
      </ul>

      <t>draft-hinden-6man-mtu-option-02, 2019-July-5</t>

      <ul spacing="compact">
        <li>Changed option format to also include the Returned PMTU value and
        Return flag and made related text changes in <xref format="default"
        target="host-os" /> to describe this behavior.</li>

        <li>ICMP Packet Too Big messages are no longer used for feedback to
        the source host.</li>

        <li>Added to Acknowledgements Section that a similar mechanism was
        proposed for IPv4 in 1988 in <xref format="default"
        target="RFC1063" />.</li>

        <li>Editorial changes.</li>
      </ul>

      <t>draft-hinden-6man-mtu-option-01, 2019-March-05</t>

      <ul spacing="compact">
        <li>Changed requested status from Standards Track to Experimental to
        allow use of experimental option type (11110) to allow for
        experimentation. Removed request for IANA Option assignment.</li>

        <li>Added <xref format="default" target="motivation" /> "Motivation
        and Problem Solved" section to better describe what the purpose of
        this document is.</li>

        <li>Added appendix describing planned experiments and how the results
        will be measured.</li>

        <li>Editorial changes.</li>
      </ul>

      <t>draft-hinden-6man-mtu-option-00, 2018-Oct-16</t>

      <ul spacing="compact">
        <li>Initial draft.</li>
      </ul>
    </section>
  </middle>

  <back>
    <references>
      <name>References</name>

      <references>
        <name>Normative References</name>

        <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.8200.xml"
                    xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />

        <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.8201.xml"
                    xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />

        <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.2119.xml"
                    xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />

        <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.8174.xml"
                    xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />

        <reference anchor="IANA-HBH"
                   target="https://www.iana.org/assignments/ipv6-parameters/ipv6-parameters.xhtml#ipv6-parameters-2">
          <front>
            <title>Destination Options and Hop-by-Hop Options</title>

            <author />

            <date />
          </front>
        </reference>
      </references>

      <references>
        <name>Informative References</name>

        <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.1063.xml"
                    xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />

        <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.1191.xml"
                    xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />

        <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.2460.xml"
                    xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />

        <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.4301.xml"
                    xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />

        <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.4302.xml"
                    xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />

        <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.4443.xml"
                    xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />

        <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.4861.xml"
                    xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />

        <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.4821.xml"
                    xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />

        <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.6438.xml"
                    xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />

        <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.7637.xml"
                    xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />

        <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.8085.xml"
                    xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />

        <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.8446.xml"
                    xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />

        <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.8899.xml"
                    xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />

        <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.8900.xml"
                    xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />

        <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.9000.xml"
                    xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />

        <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.tools.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.9099.xml"
                    xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />

        <xi:include href="https://xml2rfc.ietf.org/public/rfc/bibxml3/reference.I-D.ietf-taps-arch.xml"
                    xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />
	
        <reference anchor="VPP"
                   target="https://wiki.fd.io/view/VPP/What_is_VPP%3F">
          <front>
            <title>VPP/What is VPP?</title>

            <author />

            <date />
          </front>
        </reference>

        <reference anchor="VPP_SRC"
                   target="https://gerrit.fd.io/r/c/vpp/+/21948">
          <front>
            <title>VPP Source</title>

            <author />

            <date />
          </front>
        </reference>

        <reference anchor="WIRESHARK" target="https://www.wireshark.org">
          <front>
            <title>Wireshark Network Protocol Analyzer</title>

            <author />

            <date />
          </front>
        </reference>
      </references>
    </references>

    <!--    <section anchor="exp" numbered="true" toc="default">
      <name>Planned Experiments</name>
      <t>TBD </t>
      <t>This section will describe a set of experiments planned for the use
      of the option defined in this document. There are many aspects of the
      design that require experimental data or experience to evaluate this
      experimental specification.</t>
      <t>This includes experiments to understand the pathology of packets sent
      with the specified option to determine the likelihood that they are lost
      within specific types of network segment.</t>
      <t>This includes consideration of the cost and alternatives for
      providing the feedback required by the mechanism and how to effectively
      limit the rate of transmission.</t>
      <t>This includes consideration of the potential for integration in
      frameworks such as that offered by DPLPMTUD.</t>
      <t>There are also security-related topics to be understood as described
      in the <xref target="Security" format="default">Security Considerations</xref>.</t>
    </section>
 -->
  </back>
</rfc>
